Tower Cranes Grow to New Heights
In the tower crane industry, the 1950s featured many important milestones in tower crane design and development. There were a range of manufacturers were beginning to make more bottom slewing cranes which had telescoping mast. These types of equipments dominated the construction business for both apartment block and office construction. A lot of of the top tower crane manufacturers didn't utilize cantilever jib designs. Instead, they made the switch to luffing jibs and eventually, utilizing luffing jibs became the regular method.
In Europe, there were key improvements being made in the development and design of tower cranes. Normally, construction sites were constricted areas. Depending on rail systems to transport several tower cranes, became very inconvenient and costly. Some manufacturers were providing saddle jib cranes which had hook heights of 80 meters or 262 feet. These cranes were outfitted with self-climbing mechanisms that allowed sections of mast to be inserted into the crane so that it could grow along with the structures it was constructing upwards.
The long jibs on these specific cranes also covered a bigger work area. All of these developments resulted in the practice of erecting and anchoring cranes in the lift shaft of a building. After that, this is the method that became the industry standard.
The main focus on tower crane design and development from the 1960s began on covering a higher load moment, covering a larger job radius, faster erection strategies, climbing mechanisms and technology, and new control systems. Moreover, focus was spent on faster erection strategies with the most essential developments being made in the drive technology department, among other things.